My comments concern the production and actors, or their characters, in lower-budget, nearly forgotten, American movies which have not totally held up well over time. My conversational writing style will include details which I find interesting, odd or funny. Generally, plots are not revealed, only how the characters fit into the plot or how they equate with real life as opposed to Hollywood's thinking.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

DIAL 1119 (1950)

This
MGM feature might have been a startling film in its day and critics
generally seemed to like it. A powerful opening score by André
Previn suggests a winner. But despite an obvious low budget, the
movie still lost money at the box office. There were no big name
stars to draw an audience and it is almost entirely filmed on studio
backlot sets. I also wonder if audiences accepted a nice looking boy,
Marshall Thompson, in this early lead role. His getting on a bus to
“Terminal City” might have been an omen, yet hardly justifies
shooting the bus driver with his own personal security device. The
script somewhat awkwardly addresses mental illness. Initially,
Thompson appears only to be in a sleepwalking trance and it is hard
to figure if he is innocent or guilty of something. Past or present.

Thompson's
cold, unemotional search for his former psych doctor, Sam Levene,
goes nowhere and he eventually wanders into a bar where we meet a
slice of society with their own personal foibles. Virginia Fields,
Leon Ames and Keith Brasselle (bartender) make up the more notable
actors for this story. Finally, there is bar owner, William Conrad,
who knows each patron well, holding contempt for a few regulars. On
the bright side, his bar is equipped with a state-of-the-art, remote
controlled television monitor suspended over the counter that would
equal the size in most sports bars today. This had to cost a pretty
penny. And for what? Wrestling. And of course, the news break about
an escaped mental patient who Conrad recognizes at the end of the
counter. When he calmly goes to the back to call the police, Thompson
is right behind him, putting Conrad’s life on permanent hold with a
bullet. This instantly gets the attention of all the patrons and the
previously invisible Thompson becomes larger than life itself. This
innocent looking, unassuming and perspiring man happens to have no
regard for human life. Especially his own. Thus initiates the
stereotypical hostage situation with the police plotting their next
move to end the situation.

Through
clichéd
interaction between killer and hostages, Thompson lays out his mental
disqualifications, blaming the military for teaching him to kill. The
Army was referring to the enemy, by the way. In his eyes all the
patrons are pitiful excuses and he is not impressed with their petty
problems. His comments put the patrons in a reflective, albeit
terrified, mood. Thompson's only demand, other than having the
patrons not move a muscle, is that he talk to Dr. Levene. Though
unadvised repeatedly by the police, Levene sneaks inside the bar
where Thompson confronts him about his historic bad advice. The
doctor’s blunt assessment quickly regresses Thompson into a
frightened child. He shoots Levene when pushed too far.

A
revolver that Conrad kept behind the counter is spotted by Fields,
whose character seems to know her way around firearms. She wounds
Thompson who then tells her she had no right to do that. The patrons
disagree wholeheartedly with his assessment. After a seventy-five
minute running time, all hope seemingly gone with the words, “The
End” approaching, he slowly escapes out the back entrance that is
very well covered by the police. Welcome to Terminal City.

Some
today find this film some sort of lost treasure but it is really not
innovating in any aspect. It is well acted and there may be enough to
hold the viewer in suspense but not surprising in any Hollywood hostage staging.